Sunday, November 7, 2010

It's Day #21 of I Like Big Bundts! The Food Librarian brings you 30 Bundts in 30 Days on our way to National Bundt Day on November 15th. Whoo hoo! (Sorry for the slight delay in posting this...you'll get Day #22 later today!)

Saturday is Jun & David's wedding, and I'm doing the dessert bar for 125 guests...so I've asked my friend and fellow librarian Jessica to guest post. (For some reason, I've only had actual librarians guest post in the past...but I'm going to change the rules to "if you have every stepped foot into a library" to broaden the base and not burn out my librarian friends! :)

From my friend, Jessica:

Let me begin this post by saying that I’m the Food Librarian’s second guest blogger, and that my contribution was star crossed from the very beginning. I think I’ll take this moment to add that there are people in my life who can attest to the fact that I actually can bake (see where this is going?) Ok, so onto my sad tale of bundt baking woe.

I agreed to guest blog for Mary and picked out the Gâteau aux noisettes et au miel (Honey Hazelnut Cake) from Chocolate & Zucchini. Having moved into a new apartment at the end of Southern California’s summer, I was excited for the inaugural use of my oven. When I finally got to the business of baking, it was super hot and kind of late; I went ahead anyway.

I got all of my ingredients together and went to preheat my oven only to find that I couldn’t turn it on! It’s old and electric and most of the numbers on knobs have been completely worn away, except on the oven knob, so I thought it would be no problem. It took me a few minutes to figure out that some of the knobs were in the wrong place, and that the temperature knob will not fit in the right spot at all. Being that I had no way of telling the temperature in my oven, I scratched the first attempt to bake this bundt.

The next day, I went to my folks’ house to use their much more reliable oven. Everything was going off without a hitch, until I got a phone call. ***Word to the wise: Do not find yourself in the middle of baking when someone calls you and tells you the following: they have gone out of town and accidentally left about 3 lbs of sushi-grade tuna in the trunk of their car, and can you pleeeeeaaaaase go to their house and get it out before it starts to smell. You know what might happen if you find yourself in this situation? You may finish mixing your ingredients and, while you’re busy teasing mercilessly, you may forget to grease your pan. Scratch attempt #2.

Attempt #3? I got up early to bake again, and managed to burn this batch. Rats. My parents did eat attempt #2, and I tasted some of it, so I can tell you that it is a really good cake – buttery, honey tasting, and delicious. Attempt # 3 did not taste as good because of the burned outer layer.

So having earned the dubious distinction of sending the first items in eons to the Food Librarian’s Mr. Trashcan, I can tell you what I’ve learned. I now have a thermometer inside of my oven, and, if I’m baking, I’ll call you back. - Jessica, Guest Blogger

Thanks so much Jessica for trying to make this THREE times. How is that for bundt dedication?!